—And pray, said my uncle Toby, leaning upon Yorick, as he and my father were helping him leisurely down the stairs⁠⸺⁠don’t be terrified, madam, this staircase conversation is not so long as the last⁠⸺⁠And pray, Yorick, said my uncle Toby, which way is this said affair of Tristram at length settled by these learned men? Very satisfactorily, replied Yorick; no mortal, Sir, has any concern with it⁠⸺⁠for Mrs. Shandy the mother is nothing at all akin to him⁠⸺⁠and as the mother’s is the surest side⁠⸺⁠Mr. Shandy, in course, is still less than nothing⁠⸻In short, he is not as much akin to him, Sir, as I am.⁠⸺⁠

⸺⁠That may well be, said my father, shaking his head.

⸺⁠Let the learned say what they will, there must certainly, quoth my uncle Toby, have been some sort of consanguinity betwixt the duchess of Suffolk and her son.

The vulgar are of the same opinion, quoth Yorick, to this hour.